Talking about his parallel-world self, Gary wore an expression of unfiltered pride.
Parallel world or not, it was still him.
Champion in two years. A record like that, dropped into this world, was flat-out unprecedented. Whether it would stay unrepeatable depended on whether he, armed with the memories of that other Gary, and Ash, could break it.
"Champion in two years? The you over there is incredible!" Ash said, eyes bright with admiration.
Gary glanced over, faintly surprised. "You believe me?"
"Uh, of course I believe you! I mean, yeah, what you're saying sounds ridiculous, but it's not the kind of thing anyone would joke about, right? When something's that outrageous and it's the only explanation that fits, you kind of have to take it at face value." Ash paused, then doubled down with a sincere, trusting look.
Inside, he was sweating bullets. That was close. I almost gave myself away.
Professor Oak was still hovering somewhere around "half-convinced," and here Ash had bought Gary's story instantly. He wasn't actually surprised by the parallel-world memory part. What had caught him off guard was the two-year Champion part. Which was, in itself, a tell. Reacting to the achievement meant he'd already accepted the premise.
Professor Oak was skeptical. Ash, on the other hand, had no room to be skeptical, because every scrap of his own success traced back to his parallel-world selves.
And just a second ago, he'd nearly blurted out the Chat Group. Gary had laid his cards on the table the moment he had cards to lay. Keeping his own hidden after that felt almost mean.
Except, as it turned out, Gary's situation wasn't his situation at all.
From Gary's account, all he'd inherited were the parallel Gary's memories. Maybe some personality bleed-through too. But no Chat Group. No prize draws. No hotline to a hundred other versions of himself.
If Gary was a small-time cheat, then Ash was a cheat on an entirely different scale. Gary had the power of one other world. Ash had the multiverse on speed dial.
Two completely different leagues. Ash slammed on the brakes and shelved the Chat Group reveal. The big shots in the group had drummed it into him over and over: unless absolute necessity forces your hand, do not breathe a word about the Chat Group.
Secrets don't keep. If this one ever got out, he'd end up on a dissection table somewhere, and there'd be no peace for him in this lifetime.
Ash's explanation seemed to satisfy Professor Oak, who nodded. "Ash has a point. As ridiculous as your story sounds, Gary, a ridiculous story is the only thing that matches ridiculous progress. Put that way, your last month makes a lot more sense."
"By the way, Gary, what about me in the parallel world?" Ash asked, working hard to sound casual. "You became Champion in two years over there. What was I up to?"
He had every parallel-world Ash one ping away. If he could squeeze a few details out of Gary, he could go straight into the Chat Group and ask the local Ash what was actually going on. Why had Gary suddenly inherited his other self's memories? And why on earth had the other Gary changed his name? What kind of name was Blue, anyway?
The pride Gary had been wearing, freshly polished by Professor Oak's praise, stiffened on his face. It curdled into something close to a grimace.
If he had any say in it, he would much rather not talk about the parallel-world Ash. Being eclipsed by Ash everywhere in this world was bad enough. Discovering he was eclipsed by Ash in the other world too had not gone down easily.
"Ahem. I only inherited bits and pieces. Some training methods, some experiences, and the residual energy in that space ended up merging with my Blastoise. Beyond that, I really don't know. Including, unfortunately, anything about you, Ash. No way to tell how you're doing over there. Pity, really."
The look on his face suggested a man rifling through a mental filing cabinet and coming up empty.
Ash's expression took on a flicker of suspicion. Gary knew the parallel Gary's exact two-year path to Champion, but had no memories of him? That was a stretch.
Not to flatter himself, but for Gary, he should rank somewhere just behind family, girlfriend, and Pokémon. They were childhood friends. They had been rivals from the day they'd left town. And then there was his close relationship with Professor Oak on top of that. There was no clean way for the parallel Gary's memories to skip him entirely. Gary was hiding something. The question was why.
Fine. If Gary wouldn't say it, he'd just ask someone who would.
While Gary was still mid-monologue, vividly describing the appearance of that Dark Void on the roadside, Ash quietly closed his eyes and slipped into the Chat Group.
Ascender Ash: Hey seniors, anyone over there know a guy called Blue? Champion in two years. Youngest Champion on record.
Aura Hero Ash: Blue? Doesn't ring a bell. Weird though, the name feels familiar. What's his relationship to Gary?
The name Blue had nothing in common with Gary on the surface, yet Aura Hero Ash had jumped straight from one to the other on instinct. There had to be a connection.
Ascender Ash: Okay, so listen to this.
Ash spilled the whole thing into the group: Gary's recent disappearance, the Dark Void, the inherited memories, the leap in skill. For anyone else, leaking core secrets like this would be unthinkable.
For another version of himself, the rules were different. And honestly, since Gary had voluntarily told him, it was sort of like having implicit permission to pass it along, right?
Aura Hero Ash: I see. So there's a parallel-world Gary called Blue. Definitely not from my side though. Over here, he just goes by Gary.
Champion Ash: He's from my side.
Ascender Ash: Huh?! Big bro Champion, are you telling me the Gary in your world hit Champion before you did?! No way!
The Chat Group was packed with heavyweights, but when it came to the truly recognized monsters at the top, there were really only two. One was Legendary Pokémon Ash, who collected deities, had personally challenged Arceus, and almost certainly fielded a full roster of God Realm Pokémon.
The other was Champion Ash.
If Legendary Ash had climbed to the top of the group through sheer roster of Legendaries, Champion Ash had done it the hard way. A full team of God Realm Pokémon, every one of them raised by his own hand. In terms of raw talent, he was right at the peak of the group.
And even Champion Ash, sitting on that kind of talent, had been outpaced by Gary in his world?
Champion Ash: Yeah, that Gary did hit Champion before me. He held the seat for about an hour.
Ascender Ash: ?
Champion Ash: Because the moment he became Champion, I went and challenged the Elite Four, swept them, then went up against him. And I won.
No wonder Gary hadn't wanted to talk about his other self. Turned out the parallel Gary was a punchline in Champion Ash's world.
Champion for one hour. And if the Elite Four hadn't needed time to revive their Pokémon, that hour probably wouldn't have been an hour at all.
Champion Ash: The Gary in my world goes by two names. His original name, and "Blue."
Ascender Ash: Two names? Why? Did his parents over there decide "Gary" was a bad name and switch it on him when he hit puberty?
Champion Ash: Ha, no. It's because the Gary in our world had an encounter. So did I.
Champion Ash: Newcomer, you've felt what the Chat Group does for you. With a cheat like this on your side, it's still going to take you close to a year to claw your way up to Champion level. So how do you think both of us hit Champion in only two years in my world?
That stopped Ash in his tracks.
Champion Ash had a point. Even with the Chat Group, even with lucky draws dropping good gear, even with Legendary Pokémon in the real world helping him along and a hundred other versions of himself feeding him knowledge, it had still taken him over seven months to scrape together just three Elite Four level Pokémon.
So how had Champion Ash done it in two years flat?
Champion Ash: When I first set out, a memory surfaced in my head out of nowhere. Battle styles, training methods, combat experience. A whole library, just sitting there like it had always been mine.
Champion Ash: Along with the memory, I noticed I had a special ability. In Pokémon battles, the deeper my Pokémon were pushed into adversity, the faster they improved and the more rapidly they grew. The memory had a name for it. "The One Who Battles."
The One Who Battles. Improvement through combat. The name fit the ability cleanly, and it explained how Champion Ash had reached the top in two years.
But the setup sounded familiar. Inherited memories, followed by a meteoric rise. Almost identical to Gary's story. Not as broken as the Chat Group, sure, but for any normal Trainer, a once-in-a-lifetime treasure.
Ascender Ash: So big bro, you got the parallel-world memory first, became Champion in two years off the back of it, and then ended up with the Chat Group later?
Champion Ash: Close, but one detail off. What I inherited wasn't the memory of a parallel-world me. It was someone else. His name was Red. His face and his way of doing things look a lot like mine, but he isn't me. More like a counterpart from somewhere else.
Champion Ash: Same deal with our Gary. Same kind of encounter. The memory he inherited belonged to someone called Blue. That's why he has two names, though strictly speaking, "Blue" is closer to a nickname.
That cleared it up. Two names on Champion Ash's side, one for himself and one for the person whose memory he carried. And in that world, both he and Gary had stumbled into the same kind of opportunity. Going by the names Red and Blue, the original two probably had the same rivalry dynamic as Ash and Gary did. The pattern kept replicating itself across worlds.
But Champion Ash had been careful to specify: Red and Blue weren't parallel-world versions of them. They were something adjacent. Their own people.
Which raised a question. Was the memory Gary had inherited Blue's directly, or was it the parallel-world Gary's, who had already inherited Blue's at some earlier point?
Probably the latter. Going by the look on Gary's face earlier, the memory he'd received included getting steamrolled by Champion Ash within an hour of taking the title.
Youngest Champion in history, sure. But you'd have to add another title onto that one. Fastest dethroned, too.
Ascender Ash: Got it, big bro. I'm heading out.
Champion Ash: One more thing. If Gary inherited that memory, he almost certainly inherited Blue's ability with it. Blue's ability is called "The One Who Nurtures."
Champion Ash: It's a raising ability. Under identical training conditions, anyone with it raises Pokémon at least five times faster than normal. Same tier as The One Who Battles. With it, you can churn out one full team of strong Pokémon after another at a ridiculous pace.
Champion Ash: There's a tradeoff though. Nurturing speed is faster than The One Who Battles, but the ceiling is lower. That's why Gary hit Champion before I did, but I ended up stronger than him.
Champion Ash: You're a different case, newcomer. You don't have The One Who Battles. You've got the Chat Group and the occasional lucky draw to lean on, and that's it. At the Silver Conference, you'll want to be careful with Gary. He's going to be a real rival by then.
Ascender Ash: Heh. If it actually plays out that way, then bring it on. I couldn't ask for more.